Personal computer in general, and the IBM personal computers in particular, provide access to computing power for individuals, either as stand-alone machines or as terminals for connecting to a network of other computers.
As personal computers become more available and more powerful, providing effective security for such personal computers and the data accessible therethrough has become more of an issue. Ideally, it would be desirable if the full computing power of the personal computer and its associated network should be available quickly and easily with no overhead to an authorized user and should be denied totally to an unauthorized user.
Biometrics is the use of personal characteristics to identify an individual and includes such characteristics as fingerprint sensing and analysis as well as other features such as retina scan, signature verification and hand geometry analysis. Using biometrics to determine who is authorized to use a resource such as a personal computer or to access a restricted area is well known in the art, and it has even been proposed to include a fingerprint sensor on a personal computer to assist in the authorization process. Characteristics of a fingerprint for each authorized user of the personal computer are stored in the personal computer, then the individual Identifies himself as authorized to use the computer by providing a fingerprint.
Of course, clever people have thought of ways to try to defeat the biometric identification systems, such as by providing an artificial finger or a portion on which a fingerprint has been provided. If the system does not know whether the device being scanned is a part of a real body, then the artificial finger could fool the sensor.
Fingerprint scanners also are subject to environmental forces such as humidity, dirt and electrostatic currents. Such sensors must be open for providing the individuals input which typically occurs during a very small part of the operation of the personal computer, perhaps only at an initial power on when the personal computer is turned on. It would be desirable if the biometric sensor were easily accessible during this time, but then shut up and protected from such forces until it is needed again.
Accordingly, the use of biometric identification in a personal computer raises many issues which are essential for the effective operation of the personal computer, but which could adversely limit the effectiveness of biometrics. Thus, the use of biometrics for identification in a personal computer has not been adopted, due, in part, to these limitations and disadvantages.